Unconventional food plants from metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, RS

Abstract

Many species of spontaneous or wild plants are generally referred to as “weeds” or other reductionist or pejorative terms (“daninhas”, “inços”, “matos”), despite their uses and economic potentials not being known. There have been no previous studies in Brazil of the percentage of the flora that is edible, and few native species have been studied for their bromatological composition or evaluated sensorially. The present study aims to reduce this gap for the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (MRPA), Rio Grande Revista Brasileira de AgroecologiaRev. Bras. de Agroecologia. 3(3): 53-54 (2008)ISSN: 1980-9735     do Sul State. The regional herbaria and the floristic literature relating to the MRPA were exhaustively studied for references to plants being used as human food. Bromatological, mineral and sensorial analyses were made following the usual protocols, and cultivation and experimental management were carried out according agroecological principles, in partnership with an agricultural producer. The MRPA is estimated to have about 1,500 native species, of which 311 (21%) are potentially edible. Of these, 153 (49%) are additions to the largest international listing of edible plants and 253 (76%) were consumed or tasted during the present study. Of this potentially edible flora, 69 species (22%) were selected for analysis of the mineral and protein content of their edible parts; the bromatological and mineral composition of four other species of high potential (Acanthosyris spinescens, Melothria cucumis, M. fluminensis and Vasconcellea quercifolia) were determined, and their biological and phytotechnical characteristics described. Of these, two species (M. cucumis and V. quercifolia) were evaluated sensorially. These studies show the strong alimentary potential of a significant number of under-utilized native species whose economic use would contribute for the enrichment of the human diet and to the development of the Brazilian and world agricultural matrix.